TV TUNer? New at this!

I'm looking for a TV tuner but don't really know exactly what it is.

Currently I do not get HD channels through my cable provider. I get basic channels 2-99 (no HBO and stuff) If I buy one of these TV card tuners what does it do? Would I be able to get HD channels? Do i hook it up to my TV or something? I have no cable box. I know my neighbor's have HD...Help

Also, Price range <100

 

You hook up the notebook TV tuner directly to the source/antenna and you get all that channels that source has. Providing your TV tuner supports digital/HDTV...

Heres a review of one, i suggest you read all the pages. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/791/1/

 

so if I want to just receive over the air channels, do i need to buy another antenna for my house?

 

do you need a settop box to watch your current TV?

for USA:
if you don't... whatever you see on your TV, u'll see on your TV Tuner(with NTSC/ATSC tuner NTSC = analog, ATSC = digital).... ClearQAM means unencrypted digital channels.... most providers only give you FREE undigital news channels(NBC, ABC, FOX, CW, Public TV...) and encrypt the rest

if you do.... unplug ur settopbox and try to see what you see.... same as above

you could get a antenna and look at antennaweb.org to see what OTA(over the air) digital signal you can get

 

i have a question do you need that option on your computer, because i dont and id like to watch tv on mine lol, but i am guessing i cant.

 

Anyone interested in a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950? I have one sitting around. $35 + shipping. PM me if interested.

 

so either you:
1) get a TV
2) get a TV Tuner to watch TV on your laptop
3) get a cheap desktop with a TV tuner
4) if you have an old monitor (any type) lying around, you can buy a device that works as a TV Tuner and outputs to VGA/DVI/HDMI...
5) get a friend with a TV Tuner to stream over th einternet so you can watch(bandwidth hog and low quality)
6) watch TV online

 

ok, well how much would a tv tuner cost, and i have comcast i have no antennas

 

USB TV Tuners-> between $20 to $100 depending on the features/brand(ATSC, NTSC, QAM, FM Radio) and accessories(antenna, remote, cables for A/V like RCA)...

ExpressCard Tuners-> didn't really do research on them since i can't use expresscard on my desktop... but more expensive and fewer choices

PCI(e) cards-> for desktops

Comcast-> i have Comcast basic cable at home(no digital or HD), my TV works without a settop box..... with a ClearQAM tuner, i can get ABC/FOX/CW/NJN(public TV)/CBS on digital/HD...

so u'll need a coaxial output near your laptop to watch TV, which is kinda moot as a laptop is supposed to be mobile = not tied down to an outlet.... i guess u have to compromise.... with an antenna, u can move around anywhere, but u'll get like 6-10 channels depending on your location

and u'll want hard drive space if you are going to record TV..... analog TV in Windows Media Center takes between 4GB to 6GB per hour depending on the quality setting.... digital TV takes (720p = 4-5GB/hour, 1080i = 6-8GB/hour).....

if you use the TV recording program that comes with your USB device(which i dont recommend because i think Windows media Center is way better than any PVR/DVR), the program may convert on-the-fly to another codec... small size, but it means your processor will be running high.... another option is to convert the Windows Media Center files that you want to another codec(h.264/xvid) after recording to reduce the file size to 300MB-1GB...

 

oh well i think im switching to direct tv which uses a antenna anyways, so will i be able to get all the channles i do on my tv if so? if not i dont really care for it.

 

if i use the antenna that comes with the tuner, without one outside, is that enough?

 

technically DirecTV uses a DISH which is different from the antenna....

a DirecTV receiver is required to descramble the content.... then the receiver would output to your TV via coax/HDMI/whatever outputs it has... using THAT output, you can connect to your TV Tuner and watch on your computer

that is: if you CURRENTLY have only ONE DIRECTV receiver on your home connected to your TV, and want to watch DirecTV on your computer, u'll need to rent another receiver, or connect the receiver to both the TV and computer(but u can only watch ONE SHOW at ONE TIME on your TV/Computer if you only have one receiver)

the antenna.... go to antennaweb.org and put in ur zipcode.... in my experience, if you are indoors and the antenna can 'see' the sky(or you can see a window from where you are using your laptop), the antenna can pick up maybe <6 miles(?)..... if you put your antenna outside, then perhaps 10 miles is the max..... if you use your outdoor antenna, it should be at least 30 miles